5 Awesome Environmental Books

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

This book is about love, work and mountains that you can move whenever those two things are combined. It is told through the remarkable stories of Jahren’s: about her life in rural Minnesota as a child with a mother who was uncompromising and a father who encouraged her to play for hours in his classroom lab. It is a story of how science became a sanctuary for her and how she learned to do lab work with both her hands and heart, along with not only the inevitable disappointments, but the exhilarating discoveries and triumphs that scientific work bring.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

The outcry following the publication of this book forced DDT to be banned and was a catalyst for revolutionary changes within the laws that affect our water, land and air. The passionate concern that Carson had for our planet’s future reverberated throughout the world in a very powerful and profound way. This eloquent book was very instrument in the development of the environmental movement. It is definitely one of the twentieth century’s landmark books.

A completely radical, intimate and lyrical look at the life of humans and animals mixes memoir and nature writing, along with psychology and neuroscience, to cross over the boundaries that separate the species. It represents an incredible journey that is full of surprises and thrills, joy and humor. Ultimately, it is an exploration int our human experience within our world, which is carried out through exploring the entire range of life surrounding us.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

During the past half billion years, five mass extinctions have taken place, when the diversity of life here on earth dramatically and suddenly contracted. Scientists from all over the world are presently monitoring the earth’s sixth extinction, which is projected to be the most devastating of all extinction events to have taken place since the dinosaurs were wiped out by the asteroid. We are the cataclysm this time around.

The Life and Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell

Without trees we wouldn’t even exist. Not only are they vital, throughout our history they have served as an inspiration as well. Blackwell takes us on a fascinating journey through his stories and breathtaking photos. Trees are certainly a miracle of nature and one of the reasons humans can live on planet Earth. A friend of mine who works for an Adelaide tree removal company actually introduced me to this book.

Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World by Bill Nye

Bill Nye expands and crystallizes on the message that he is so beloved and well known for in this book. His message is that through a combination of scientific curiosity and optimism, obstacles all turn into opportunities, and the possibilities become limitless within our world. With an engineer’s vision of what is possible a scientist’s insatiable thirst for knowledge, Bill Nye sees our current environmental problems as not something that is depressing and insurmountable, but as an opportunity for our society to rise up to this challenge and create a world that is smarter, healthier and cleaner.